The era of living to 120 years old has arrived! - The secret to youth is to realize that 60 is the new middle age

With the evolution of modern medicine, life expectancy is increasing rapidly. In a few more short years, we are likely to see dramatic advances in the fight against cancer, which is the leading cause of death among the Japanese population. Recent advances in medical treatment using IPS cell technology have been especially spectacular. Also, cloned human beings now exist in many parts of the world and it’s important to note that the evolution of DNA research has not only revolutionized medicine, but these advances could also be a sign of the destruction of the human race.

Now, it has become rather boring to think about such difficult things. Nowadays, life expectancy is reaching up to 120 years old. In other words, 60 years old is now considered to be middle age. And now, I am just surpassing the turning point of my life. I believe that this kind of positive thinking is the secret to staying young forever. However, positive thinking alone is not enough; in order to maintain good health until the age of 100, or even 120, one must be prepared to modify one’s lifestyle patterns accordingly. Especially in today’s digitalized society, we are bombarded with so much information that we are swept away by the fast-paced environment, and as a result, stress builds up.

For me, there are three hurdles that I must climb over. As I was writing this column, I stumbled upon some unexpectedly high hurdles. The first and highest hurdle was getting enough sleep. Making sleep a hobby, like Shohei Ohtani does, will make the body well rested and repair damaged cells that have been oxidized from stress and overwork more quickly. Therefore, many counselors advise improving the quality of sleep is now the most important issue.

In reality, however, the time difference between Japan and other countries means that sometimes I have to stay up late or get up early to catch up on emails while I am also busy with work. If I keep doing that, I will lose out on my precious sleep time. And with my life’s work, Historyjp, now a year behind schedule, how on earth am I supposed to get enough sleep? Reality is harsh. I find myself up until 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. every night. This is a double slap in the face! This is not good! I must practice what I preach. I can’t help but hear the voice of heaven saying, “Just go to bed early!”

The next hurdle is to not eat two hours before bed. This is actually very difficult. To begin with, I fully understand that I have had GERD for several years and my esophagus is irritated. Therefore, I have to take a stomach medicine before going to bed. If I go to bed with an empty stomach, my stomach is not overstrained, and I can wake up in the morning and have breakfast in a comfortable and refreshed mood. However, after telling myself that I am done for the day and will not eat any more, I suddenly find myself eating a rice cracker. If I give into the temptation and have just one more piece, then, I end up eating a second piece, and then a third, and so on and so forth. This is the same type of thinking as sinning. Once you make a mistake, the hurdle for not doing it a second time goes out the window, and before you know it, you have become accustomed to it. This is bad! Jesus Christ said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” But now I have to repent for eating again. Pathetic.

By the way, I have eaten moderately with proper nutrients in mind for many years. I try to avoid oily fried foods, and I am very moderate with salt. I eat cold tofu without soy sauce. I eat less meat and avoid starchy and sweet foods such as rice as much as possible. By controlling my diet in this way, I have never gotten fat. When I look at the young people around me, many of them are sloppy eaters. They cannot control themselves. Some of them eat like fools, saying they know it’s bad, but they can’t stop. However, it is also true that I myself am no exception.

According to recent medical science, diet can help prevent depression, which has become an epidemic. I still can’t imagine how many people are seriously considering their diets. The diet for depression is fairly simple. Anyway, the food trend is to consume more dairy products, soy products, tofu, lean fish, and fruits. And it is said that it is also important to consume foods such as peanuts and almonds, which contain a lot of the amino acid tryptophan and increase serotonin. For example, bananas for fruits, red tuna for fish, and dairy products. All of these are foods that I am accustomed to eating on a regular basis. I am not a gourmet eater, but rather I prefer to eat a rather simple diet, which can probably be the secret to longevity.

The third challenge is another hurdle and I worry that I will not be able to overcome this one. It’s not about pushing myself too hard. It’s all about living a stress-free life. If people are always calm, healthy, smiling, and relaxed, their stress levels will decrease and they will be able to enjoy every day of their lives to the fullest. However, this is not the case when I run several companies and have hundreds of things to do on a daily basis. I have to work on a minute-by-minute schedule and get all of my work done. When traveling, I often run, rather than walk quickly to save time. If it takes a normal person five minutes to change trains, I slip on in one minute. I check in for flights 30 minutes before takeoff, and it’s normal for me to board that plane by the skin of my teeth. I respond immediately to emails and any other messages. Since I take it for granted that I have to make quick decisions and instant decisions on just about everything, I am naturally tired! My body is just full of stress!

Stress-induced fatigue has been a lifelong battle for me. If I were to lose myself to stress, it would mean an auto-immune disease, and even if I don’t fall into depression, I would surely fall prey to a disease related to an inflammatory disorder like collagen disease. Just the other day, Aki Yashiro passed away, and she had a collagen disease called dermatomyositis. In fact, my own father, who has already passed, was acquainted with Aki Yashiro, also had dermatomyositis and almost died from it at one point. During his hospitalization, he was given a large dose of steroids, and his face blew up like a full moon and he looked like a completely different person. He barely survived. The family had agreed that the cause of his dermatomyositis was probably work-induced stress. This means that I, as someone who shares the same DNA, am high-risk for contracting such a collagen disease. I must be careful.

In order to live to be 120 years old, these three challenges - getting enough sleep, not eating before bed to reduce the burden on my stomach, and living a stress-free life without recklessness - are the major obstacles I must overcome. For 2024, in order for me to turn around this corner of my life and complete the remaining half, I have to clear these walls no matter what it takes. I need to have a strong desire to climb over them and make it to the top. I worry that thinking about it might cause stress itself. But, this is my life and it’s my body. I must enjoy my everyday life and take care of it, or rather, taking better care of it. But I will still continue to run the pilgrimage, and the day before yesterday, I completed the 50-kilometer journey with all the determination I could muster. I have a special sense of accomplishment in completing the pilgrimage as planned! However, as long as I say that, it’s still not enough effort! I must not overdo it and I need to go back to the basics!